If You Like…

Big Cats

It's a fairly reliable prediction that if you dedicate any serious time to watching wildlife in Botswana and Namiba, you'll most likely see lions, leopards and cheetahs. The heart and soul of wild Africa, these apex predators will provide many of your most enduring safari memories.

Savuti Lions and leopards are commonly seen here – and these are some of Southern Africa's meanest lions.

Moremi Game Reserve ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; per day per non-resident/vehicle P120/50; h6am-6.30pm Apr-Sep, 5.30am-7pm Oct-Mar) There are big cats everywhere in Botswana's north (try Chobe Riverfront or deep in the Okavango Delta), and Moremi rarely disappoints.

Etosha National Park Lions on a kill at a waterhole while herds of springbok and gemsbok watch on nervously – ah, the drama of Etosha.

Okonjima Nature Reserve Track leopards and cheetahs while learning an important conservation message.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR; per day per non-resident/vehicle P120/50; h6am-6.30pm Apr-Sep, 5.30am-7pm Oct-Mar) Track down the black-maned Kalahari lions of legend.

Damaraland Desert-adapted lions roam the sand dunes, rocky mountains and dry river valleys.

Bwabwata National Park Lions are making a comeback in Namibia's far northeastern corner.

Elephants

Botswana has within its borders one-third of all African elephants left on the planet – you'll never get closer to an elephant than here – while Namibia is home to the much-famed desert elephants of the north.

Chobe National Park The world's mother lode for elephant populations, with dense congregations of very big elephants close to Chobe Riverfront.

Elephant Sands Commune with wild elephants – so close you could almost reach out and touch them – at this lodge built around a waterhole.

Moremi Game Reserve Elephants at every turn here in the Okavango Delta in Botswana's north.

Damaraland The famed desert elephants of Namibia roam the deep-red, rocky mountains of Namibia's northwest.

Etosha National Park Caked in white Etosha dust, these relatively small tuskers can look like the grey ghost-shadows of the salt pans.

Senyati Safari Camp Watch elephants at the waterhole right beneath your bar while you nurse your sundowner.

Rhinos

The increasingly precarious foothold of the rhino in Southern Africa seems to apply less in Namibia than elsewhere, although there's good news coming out of Botswana as well. Rhino tracking greatly increases your chances, but there are plenty of opportunities elsewhere too.

Palmwag Africa's largest population of free-ranging black rhinos, many with radio collars to allow tracking.

Etosha National Park Sidle up to just about any waterhole by night and wait for the rhinos to come drink and socialise.

Khama Rhino Sanctuary ( GOOGLE MAP ; %463 0713; www.khamarhinosanctuary.org.bw; adult/child P79/39, vehicle under/over 5 tonnes P97/285; h7am-7pm) For decades this was Botswana's last refuge for rhinos and it's still a good place to see them.

Waterberg Plateau Park A small but growing population that can be difficult to see unless you go with the experts.

Okavango Delta Recent reintroduction efforts are bearing fruit, with some lodges and camps taking a front-row seat.

Birdwatching

Botswana is a birding utopia, with almost 600 species recorded. Namibia is also a wonderful destination for birders, from the shorebirds of the coast to the desert specialists of the interior.

Okavango Panhandle A narrow strip of swampland that extends for about 100km to the Namibian border, the area is known for its fine birdwatching.

Chobe Riverfront There is extraordinary variety in the birdlife along the riverfront and overhead there’s a good chance of spotting African fish-eagles.

Nata Bird Sanctuary A quarter of Botswana’s birds call the sanctuary home, and it’s covered in a sea of pink flamingos (and other migratory birds) during the rains.

Caprivi Strip Bwabwata and Nkasa Rupara National Parks present Namibia’s best birdwatching opportunities. Nkasa Rupara has recorded more than 430 species.

Walvis Bay Lesser and greater flamingos flock in large numbers to pools along the Namib Desert coast, particularly around Walvis Bay and Lüderitz.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve Some real desert specialists inhabit the reserve, with Kalahari scrub robins, ostriches and the kori bustard particular prizes.

Etosha National Park Some of Namibia's best birding for desert-adapted species, including kori bustard and ostrich.

Rock Art

The rock art of Botswana and Namibia is both an extraordinary chronology of an ancient people and a startling artistic form that is a link to our ancient ancestors. Dotted around in hills and caves, these are magical, sacred works of art.

Tsodilo Hills Revered by the San, this ‘desert Louvre’ is one of Botswana’s premier sites for this pictorial form of San chronology and includes numerous fascinating panels.

Twyfelfontein One of Africa’s most extensive galleries of rock art, with new examples being discovered all the time and a petrified forest nearby.

The Brandberg Fire Mountain is an extraordinarily beautiful slab of granite, containing the famous ‘White Lady of the Brandberg’ in its treasure chest of ancient rock paintings.

National Museum of Namibia Excellent rock-art display with some great reproductions; an ideal place to visit before seeing rock-art sites.

Landscapes

Namibia possesses an incredible array of landscapes, from soaring sand dunes and slabs of ancient granite mountains, to rock-strewn moonscapes, salt pans and endless savannah. Botswana is generally pretty flat, but even that has its own appeal and there are regions where variety abounds.

Fish River Canyon For once the clichés are true – this truly is Africa's equivalent of the Grand Canyon.

Namib-Naukluft National Park Some of the most beautiful sand dunes on the planet, plus the austerely beautiful Naukluft Mountains.

Etosha Pan Stand out on the pan and survey an empty saline nothingness that bursts into life after the rains; just behind is an artist’s palette of African savannah.

Okavango Delta As desert turns into fertile land, mother nature's ebb and flow on the landscape is more apparent here – one of the world’s largest inland river deltas – than anywhere in the region.

Northwestern Namibia Some of the region’s most incredible landscapes include the Skeleton Coast and the Kaokoveld, with its wide-open vistas and lonely desert roads.

Makgadikgadi Pans & Nxai Pan National Parks Mesmerising and strangely beautiful, pancake-flat expanses larger than any on the planet.

Spitzkoppe ( GOOGLE MAP ; Groot Spitzkoppe village; per person/car N$50/20; hsunrise-sunset) The essence of Namibia's rocky mountain spine that runs for most of the length of the country.

Adventure Sports

Adventure sports thrive in Namibia with most enthusiasts zeroing in on the Atlantic coast. Here you can sandboard an ancient desert, throw yourself out of a plane, surf the Atlantic or go horse riding into a blazing sunset.

Swakopmund Namibia and indeed Southern Africa’s capital of adventure sports, this is adrenaline-junkie heaven.

Rhino tracking Following black rhinos through the bush may not be considered a traditional adventure sport, but when it’s on foot…

Quad biking Opportunities exist in both countries, although in Botswana it is generally limited to top-end lodges (eg in Makgadikgadi Pans).

Scenic flights Namibia’s coastline, especially the Skeleton Coast, and the Okavango Delta in Botswana, both offer the chance of light-aircraft or helicopter flights over jaw-dropping scenery.

Hiking Multiday hiking opportunities exist throughout the region, although many are closed in low season.

Fly-In Safaris

Botswana is Southern Africa’s top-end safari destination, and many tour operators specialise in fly-in safaris or include a fly-in element in their itineraries. It can be the only way to reach remote areas such as the north of Namibia's Skeleton Coast or Botswana's Okavango Delta.

Okavango Delta Particularly popular, the luxury lodges operating these services are some of Africa’s most exclusive.

Moremi Game Reserve The only officially protected area within the Okavango Delta, so plenty of wildlife; several truly decadent lodges.

Chobe National Park Lodges here boast panoramic views across the Chobe River, with herds of elephants easily seen from the grounds of your accommodation.

Skeleton Coast Wilderness Area Remote, wild and virtually inaccessible unless you're willing to fly in.

Namibia's Northwest Corner The ultimate in isolation, located in Namibia's remote, almost trackless far northwest.

Off-Road Driving

There’s plenty to challenge 4WD enthusiasts who like to get off-road. In many remote places age-old tracks (in perilous condition after the rains) are the only way to navigate the African wilderness.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve An off-roader's dream; if you’re after solitude, desertscapes and the echo of lions roaring in the night, this enormous heart of the African wilderness could become your favourite place.

The Kaokoveld One of the last true wildernesses in Southern Africa, the remote and beguiling Kaokoveld is criss-crossed by sandy tracks laid down decades ago – this is a serious off-road challenge.

Khaudum National Park With virtually no signage, and navigation dependant on GPS coordinates and topographic maps, Khaudum is a wildlife-and-off-road adventure.

Makgadikgadi Pans If the notion of exploring 12,000 sq km of disorientating salt pans is your idea of adventure, then calibrate your GPS and head straight here.

Savuti The tracks that connect Savuti to the outside world are some of the sandiest in the country – make it here, and you've earned your stripes.

The Brandberg Real 4WD country out here, with gravel tracks yielding to rocky trails that you may just have to yourself.

Aha Hills This is Botswana's most remote corner, with challenging trails and a blissful sense of having dropped off the end of the earth.